NPR’s Leila Fadel asks political analyst and podcast host Chuck Todd what the tension between the president and Republicans in Congress means for Trump’s agenda.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Let’s talk more about the president’s relationship with Congress with Chuck Todd. He’s a political analyst and the host of “The Chuck ToddCast.” Chuck, good morning and welcome.
CHUCK TODD: Well, good morning.
FADEL: So, I mean, the president clearly feels emboldened here, talking about winning by endorsing these candidates who’ve ousted incumbents like Bill Cassidy of Louisiana…
TODD: Right.
FADEL: …Thomas Massie of Kentucky. What message have those losses sent to Republicans in Congress right now?
TODD: Well, I’d also throw in the Indiana state senators who he targeted a couple weeks back. I mean, it is clear and every Republican knows that he has a grip on the Republican Party. And if you want to survive a primary, you need his endorsement. So in some ways, he is – you know, this is such a – an odd situation that he’s put himself in. He’s never been stronger in his ability to influence Republican primaries and what happens inside those elections. And at the same time, because of his overall unpopularity at the moment – the unpopularity of the war, the frustration about the economy and how he’s done all this – he’s almost simultaneously making his life harder in November, harder in general elections. There’s certain – you know, picking these fights that he’s in right now.
FADEL: Yeah.
TODD: And he’s still got an agenda that he wants to pass. And now he’s got – you know, there’s at least six or seven Republican senators that are no longer given votes on any given thing. And that – you know, with a – when you only have a three-seat majority when you need a tiebreaker, that’s – that puts yourself in a difficult position.
FADEL: So the next six months will be difficult, possibly, for the president over this with these men unleashed.
TODD: Extraordinarily difficult. You’ll have Bill Cassidy, Lisa Makowski. Then you have people like Susan Collins, who politically need to find separation because of her reelection. And then you throw in the potential if John Cornyn doesn’t win. Or perhaps – and either way, at this point, now that the president endorsed his opponent, even if John Cornyn wins, he’s going to feel no allegiance to the president either. So that’s quite a few free-agent voters out there that normally were sort of toeing the line because, for instance, in the case of both Cassidy and Cornyn, really, up until the last couple of months, they were holding out hope they could at least keep the president from endorsing in their race.
FADEL: And then we saw Bill Cassidy switch his votes on one of the bills he – right after his loss. I mean…
TODD: It hasn’t even been a week…
FADEL: What does this…
TODD: …Since he lost his primary. Yeah.
FADEL: What about long-term? I mean, long-term, does this mean – what does this mean for the presidential agenda?
TODD: Well, it all depends on what happens in November…
FADEL: Right.
TODD: …At this point. I mean, obviously, he’s got two – you know, he’s got this reconciliation bill he wants to get through, and he’s – and all of that. But if he’s – look, I think what he’s done in Texas has created an extra hurdle financially now for the campaign in 2026, the amount of money Republicans may need to spend in order to rescue the Texas Senate seat if Cornyn is not the nominee. It’s just going to cost extra money if Ken Paxton’s the nominee. All of that has sort of trickle-down effects.
FADEL: In the sense that if Ken Paxton wins, it’ll make it a more competitive race with the Democratic candidate?
TODD: Exactly. If Ken Paxton wins, you’re going to see a surge of Democratic money into the state of Texas. Ken Paxton has not been as good of a fundraiser as John Cornyn has been. John Cornyn – I read one statistic yesterday that said he has – since he’s been in the Senate has raised over $400 million for Senate Republicans over his career. It – Ken Paxton is not considered a very good fundraiser. He’s a very polarizing individual. He has not been a good fundraiser in this campaign.
Maybe the president’s super PACs and all of that can help out. But the point is, it becomes a resource drain, and there’s a lot of other Senate races that are on the board that are quite expensive. Republicans have got to defend a seat in Ohio. They’ve got to defend a seat in North Carolina. These are not inexpensive states to spend money in. Never mind that they’re on defense now in places like Iowa, Kansas, Alaska, Maine. So it just will put all that – and you’ve got – Senate Republicans very quietly are very upset about this decision because of everything I just laid out. This has this giant trickle-down effect that may make it impossible for Republicans to hold the Senate.
FADEL: Chuck Todd is a political analyst and the host of “The Chuck ToddCast.” Thank you for your time and your insights.
TODD: Thank you.
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